London Country South West (LCSW) was a bus operator in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was formed from the split of

London Country Bus Services London Country Bus Services was a bus company that operated in South East England from 1970 until 1986, when it was split up and later sold as part of the bus deregulation programme. History Formation London Country Bus Services Ltd was ...

in 1986 and operated a fleet of around 415 buses from 10 garages, with its headquarters in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

History

London_%26_Country_bus,_Staines_bus_station,_1998_(1)

In the run-up to

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

was broken into four smaller companies on 7 September 1986. The South West division contained 415 buses. On 19 February 1988, LCSW was sold to the Drawlane Group. In 1989 the London & Country trading name was adopted, being applied to a new two-tone green and red livery. LCSW entered the

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

market, winning several contracts using second-hand

Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new. It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entranc ...

s from

Greater Glasgow Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

GM Buses GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in 1986 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. In December 1993, it was split into GM ...

and

Busways Busways is an Australian bus company operating services in Sydney, and in the Central Coast, Great Lakes, Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales and Adelaide. It is the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. History The orig ...

, where deregulation was making the major fleets dispose of large numbers of surplus vehicles. LCSW then purchased new buses, with a batch of

Dennis Dominator The Dennis Dominator was Dennis's first rear-engined double-decker bus chassis, it was launched in 1977. History Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the last Lolines were produced in 1967. The Dominator was d ...

s purchased for route 131, later followed by thirteen 88-seater

East Lancs East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company went into administration for a short while in August 2007, before being bought by Darwen Group ...

bodied Volvo Citybuses, entered service at

Addlestone Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Runnymede (borough), Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement. History The town is ...

garage in September 1989, displacing Leyland Atlanteans. In 1989, the airport coach operations at Crawley and Staines had been split off as Speedlink Airport Services. Additionally the private hire fleet was consolidated into Guildford and re-branded

Countryliner Countryliner was a bus and coach operator, based in Uckfield, England. It ran over fifty bus services, mainly operating in Sussex and Kent with some operations into Hampshire. On 8 October 2012, it was placed in administration. It continued ot ...

. A new garage was opened in

Newington Butts Newington Butts is a former hamlet, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction. The road continues as Kennington Park Road leading to ...

, near

Elephant & Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

for the operation of London Regional Transport tendered route 78 and part of route 176, this was later moved to the more suitable ex London Transport Walworth garage. Following LCSW successfully tendering to operate

route 320 The following highways are numbered 320: Canada * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 320 * Nova Scotia Route 320 * Saskatchewan Highway 320 China * China National Highway 320 Costa Rica * National Route 320 (Costa Rica), National Route 320 India * ...

from Westerham to

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

, buses were outstationed at Kentish Bus' Dunton Green garage from 1 September 1990. Garages at the time were

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of ...

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughl ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

, Staines,

, Chelsham and

Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, near the M25 motorway and the North Downs. Godstone railway station is separated from it by agricultural land. Blindley H ...

, as well as an outstation of

Broadbridge Heath Broadbridge Heath is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is about two miles (3 km) west from the historic centre of Horsham. The population of Broadbridge Heath has increased considerably in the fir ...

. In 1990, to cater for an increase in tendered London Regional Transport services, a new Beddington Road garage was built, with Chelsham and Godstone closing. Acquisitions of London & Country during 1989-1995 were: *Horsham Buses and their garage at Warnham. *Gem Fairtax, mainly based at Crawley. *The former

Alder Valley Alder Valley was a bus operator in South East England. National Bus Company era Alder Valley was formed when National Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaries Aldershot & District Traction (A&D) and Thames Valley Traction (TV) merged on 1 January ...

operations and garages at

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the m ...

and

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

which were rebranded West Surrey Buses and later Guildford & West Surrey. *Blue Saloon ABC Taxis of Slyfield, Guildford was acquired and merged with the Countryliner fleet. *AML Coaches, a small operator based in

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

and their garage and some buses were retained for a time. *As well as Scarlett Coaches of Minehead (1992-94), Stanbridge & Crichel/Oakfield Tarvel of Dorset (1992-93), Southend Transport, Colchester Borough Transport and District Bus of Essex and a small coach operator in North London. In November 1992, the Drawlane Group was restructured as

British Bus British Bus was a bus group in the United Kingdom. It was sold to the Cowie Group in August 1996. History British Bus was founded in November 1992 when the Drawlane Transport Group split its bus interests from its National Express in the lead ...

. Garages by 1992 were located at

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

, Slyfield, Walworth,

Warnham Warnham is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. The village is centred north-northwest of Horsham, from London, to the west of the A24 road. Other named settlements within the parish include the hamlets o ...

and

, with buses outstationed at Kentish Bus' Dunton Green garage. In 1996, with the demise of the National Greenway project, a new garage was opened at Merstham to replace the facility at Reigate. Also the Croydon, Dunton Green and Walworth operations were separated off into a new Londonlinks company, which was itself a subsidiary of fellow British Bus company Maidstone & District. The garages returned to London & Country management in late 1998, and in November 1999 became part of

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

. On 1 August 1996, British Bus was sold to the

Cowie Group Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.route 105. Also Leatherhead garage closed and for a short time buses for London Regional Transport contract buses were out-stationed at

Fulwell bus garage Fulwell Bus Garage is a Transport for London bus garage located in Twickenham in west London. It is north of Fulwell railway station and operates as two halves, with entrances on the A311 Wellington Road and B358 Stanley Road. It is currently ...

. During 1999 and 2000, the London & Country and Guildford & West Surrey brands fell out of use, being replaced by

Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...

and

. The fleet that were usually transferred to Arriva Southern Counties is

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor second ...

and

buses. With the loss of the Redhill Surrey tenders, in March 2001 Crawley garage was sold to Metrobus.Acquisition of Crawley Depot
Go-Ahead Group 2 April 2001

References

{{Bus companies in South East England Arriva Group bus operators in England Former bus operators in England Former London bus operators 1986 establishments in England Former bus operators in Surrey Former bus operators in West Sussex